The Tooth Tattoo

13

In the incident room next morning, the whiteboard display was strikingly improved by Kenji Hitomi’s photographs of his daughter when alive. Everyone felt the investigation had moved on. The computer-generated images had been removed. Mari the victim didn’t much resemble the woman painstakingly assembled in Philadelphia.

‘Did they charge us yet?’ Halliwell asked John Leaman. ‘I don’t think we should pay up.’

‘Too late. It was fifty percent up front and the rest on receipt. Already went through the bank.’

‘Demand a refund.’

‘They had a clause to rule it out.’

‘You signed an agreement? They’ll have lawyers waiting to pounce.’

‘Exactly.’

‘So how much of our budget was wasted on this?’

‘Don’t ask. I haven’t even told the guv’nor yet.’

‘It’s Georgina we need to worry about. She’s looking for any excuse to downsize us.’

Diamond himself appeared soon after and called for silence. ‘We’re going public with these pictures of the victim. Someone in the city must have spotted her. She was here in Bath at least one day — the day she was killed.’

‘Not necessarily, guv,’ Leaman said in the irritating singsong he used when he knew he was right.

‘What do you mean?’

‘She could have been murdered in Exeter and brought here by the killer and disposed of in the river.’

‘She never reached Exeter.’

‘We don’t know that for certain. Her so-called friends told her father she didn’t reach there, but one of them could have killed her and driven to Bath with the body. We ought to check the Exeter end.’

Diamond backtracked fast. ‘You’ve got a point. Christ, what’s the matter with me, not spotting that? The Exeter lot definitely have to be questioned. There could be some falling-out we haven’t heard about.’ He looked right and left for help, like a floundering swimmer. ‘Paul, did we get their names from Mr. Hitomi?’

‘He didn’t actually name them, guv.’

‘Get through to him now. No, better text him. We need the correct spelling.’

‘Will do,’ Gilbert took out his iPhone.

‘Want me to call Exeter CID?’ Halliwell asked.

‘What — ask them to do the job? We’ll handle this ourselves. Even if these friends are innocent as newborn babes it’s possible they can tell us stuff about Mari her father doesn’t know.’

Leaman couldn’t resist rubbing in his small triumph over Diamond. ‘Equally she could have been killed in some other place and brought here: Bristol, Swindon, Devizes—’

‘All right. We get the drift.’

‘Shouldn’t we put out a countrywide alert?’

‘That’ll happen willy-nilly. The press are sure to go national on these pictures. They’re quality photos and they tell a story. If she was seen in any place from here to John o’Groats we’ll get to hear of it.’

‘Better expect some mistaken sightings, then.’

‘That’s inevitable. I still favour Bath as the location — there was local knowledge at work — but we’ll keep an open mind.’

‘Why would she have come to Bath?’

‘Why do thousands of tourists come every year? You’re forgetting this city is known all over the world. Her father said he reckoned she came as a tourist.’

And now, with Diamond shown up once as fallible, Keith Halliwell pitched in. ‘He could be wrong. She could have come for some other reason.’

‘Such as?’

‘Something she didn’t want to tell her father about.’

‘Go on.’

‘Looking up an ex-boyfriend.’

‘Japanese?’

‘British, American, Japanese — who knows? Someone she knew in Yokohama who is now working or studying in Bath. Mari has set her heart on reviving the relationship. But it turns out he’s living with someone else, may have a child as well. Mari is hurt and angry when she finds out.’

‘Straight out of Madame Butterfly,’ Leaman murmured, annoyed that someone had stolen his thunder.

Halliwell wasn’t being put off. ‘She threatens to tell the new partner about his past. They have a row, it gets violent and he kills her.’

‘Quite a theory,’ Diamond said.

‘You did ask.’

‘I’m grateful. And there could be some simple and obvious reason for coming to Bath that nobody has mentioned.’

‘What’s that?’

An interruption from Paul Gilbert saved him. ‘Guv, Mr. Hitomi will be texting the names in the next few minutes.’

‘Excellent. While we wait we can decide which of his pictures to release to the press.’

This didn’t take long. They chose three: a close-up of Mari in Hitomi’s house, a street picture with arms outstretched and the shot of her wearing the backpack looking over her shoulder at the camera.

The names of her friends came through soon afterwards: Taki Kihara and Mikio Nambu. Both were ex-pupils of Yokohama High School studying physics at Exeter University.

‘Exeter.’ Diamond turned to Ingeborg. ‘How long would it take you to drive there — a couple of hours?’

‘Probably less. Depends who’s sitting beside me.’

Smiles all round. Diamond’s dislike of high speeds was well known. Even he managed a twisted grin.

‘Tee it up with the physics department. We’ll go this afternoon.’ He continued doggedly with the briefing. ‘One thing Mr. Hitomi confirmed is that Mari was into classical music in a big way. We already knew there was Beethoven on the iPod. It now turns out that her mother in Yokohama is a violinist who studied to a high level at some music college in Tokyo.’

‘Kunitachi,’ Paul Gilbert said.

‘Someone give him a Kleenex.’

‘The Kunitachi College of Music. I made a note of it.’

Leaman took this as the cue to air more of his musical expertise. ‘Suzuki trained.’

The only Suzuki Diamond had heard of was a motorbike and he wasn’t being lured into admitting that. ‘We’ll take your word for it. The point is that Mari’s mother taught her to love music and she was keen enough to have miniature musical instruments fixed to her backpack. I’m thinking it’s possible she was here in Bath for some concert.’

‘But we don’t know when, so how can we tell?’ Halliwell said.

‘You want it on a plate. It’s a possibility, that’s all.’

‘The music festival is always at the end of May,’ Leaman said, ‘but there are concerts of one sort or another all year round.’

‘Ingeborg checked all the local music colleges for a missing Japanese student and came up with nothing,’ Halliwell said.

‘Get with it,’ Diamond said with an opportunity to score. ‘We’re not looking for a missing student now. Mari wasn’t living here. That wouldn’t stop her looking up some Japanese friend in a music college. The music may be a huge red herring, but it keeps swimming into view.’

Diamond and Ingeborg got on the road after an early lunch. The Exeter University physics department had set up a meeting with Mari’s two Japanese friends at 3.30 pm.

‘It’s a learning experience, this,’ he said after they were on the M5 and he’d asked Ingeborg to stay in the slow lane. He believed conversation made the journey go just as quickly as belting along at dangerous speeds. ‘Classical music and now physics. Quite a mental leap.’

‘Einstein managed it,’ Ingeborg said. ‘He was a keen violinist.’

‘You’re starting to sound like John Leaman now.’

‘In what way?’

‘Trotting out facts. I’m not complaining. John’s a useful guy on the team. He was right, saying we must investigate these Exeter friends. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. Am I losing my grip?’

‘You don’t miss much, guv.’

‘I’m not sleeping all that well.’

‘Any reason?’

‘Bit of a crisis in my personal life.’ He stared at the back of his hand as if it didn’t belong to him. ‘You might as well know. I split up with Paloma.’

‘Really?’ She hesitated before saying with sympathy, ‘That’s tough.’

‘My fault. I came out with one stupid remark too many. Any woman who takes me on is asking for trouble.’

‘Would you like to make it up with her?’

‘Don’t know. We’re proud people, both. She gave me an earful.’

‘Pity if it’s only words that came between you.’

‘There’s more — my attitude. I can’t stop being the hard-nosed cop. She thinks I should lighten up when I’m off duty. I try. Obviously not enough.’

‘It goes with the job.’ Ingeborg said. ‘We’re never entirely off duty. We see something wrong and can’t ignore it.’

‘What started this? You mentioning Einstein, making me feel inferior.’

Ingeborg laughed. ‘I’m no Einstein myself. I failed physics and I can’t read music.’

‘Too bad. I was hoping you’d be discussing relativity with these undergraduates.’

‘And in Japanese?’

‘They must be reasonably fluent in English or they couldn’t study here.’

‘How do you want to deal with them — as a pair or singly?’

‘Definitely one by one. Joint interviews don’t work. There’s always one loudmouth who dominates and it’s sod’s law that the quiet one has all the information.’

‘And we’re treating them as suspects?’

‘We must. John Leaman could be right. They may have murdered her in Exeter and dumped the body in Bath as a blind.’

‘They’re supposed to be her friends.’

‘They’d need a motive, yes, like some bad blood we’ve yet to find out about.’

Even in the slow lane, they reached Exeter ahead of schedule. The university complex north-west of the city was easy to locate. Finding a place to leave the car was more of a problem. ‘There was a time when most students couldn’t afford a motor,’ Diamond said.

‘It’s now,’ Ingeborg said. ‘They just run up a bigger debt.’

At the physics department they were told that the professor was off the campus all day, so they were given his office to use as an interview room.

‘Chair of physics at Exeter will look good on my CV,’ Diamond said as he tried the seat. ‘Who’s first up?’

‘It seems to be decided,’ the department secretary said. ‘We asked them both to be here at the time you stated. Miss Kihara is waiting outside, but the man is late.’

‘The man?’

‘Mr. Nambu.’

‘Funny. I assumed they were both female, being friends of Mari. Not obvious from the names.’

‘Unless you’re Japanese,’ Ingeborg said.

‘Ask Miss Kihara to step in, will you?’

The student was small and nervous, with powerful glasses that magnified her eyes into a permanent startled look. Being interviewed in the professor’s office must have been daunting. She might have been more relaxed in the place Diamond had originally planned to use: the union bar.

‘May we call you Taki?’

‘Please do.’ At once it was clear there would be no problem over the language.

‘You knew Mari Hitomi, I believe, and you’ll have heard the sad news of her death.’

‘It’s incredible. A horrible shock.’

‘We spoke to her father and he understood she was planning to visit Exeter to see you and Mr. Nambu.’

‘That’s right. She called me after she arrived in London.’

‘Did she fix the visit?’

‘She didn’t put a date on it. She was going to text us nearer the time. I said she was welcome to stay a few days if she wanted. She could sleep at my place. So we left it flexible.’

‘And you didn’t receive the text?’

‘I wasn’t worried. It was a casual arrangement and when weeks went by I thought she must have made other plans. The next thing I heard was when her father phoned. He seemed to believe she’d been coming straight to Exeter. He was very upset when I told him she wasn’t with us.’

‘It seems she planned a visit to Bath without telling him. Do you know if she had friends there?’

‘Nobody I heard of. If they were friends from Yokohama, I’d know. We all keep in touch. There are three in Sheffield, two in Bangor, one in Cambridge.’

‘Do you visit any of them yourself?’

She shook her head. ‘It’s too far on a bike. That’s my transport.’

‘You don’t drive?’

‘No.’

If this was true — and it was an instant response, spoken without sign of evasion — one crucial question was settled. She hadn’t driven to Bath with a body in the back. ‘You’ve known Mari a long time?’

‘We went through school together in Yokohama.’

‘What was she like?’

‘Very good company. She was open and truthful. Laughed a lot. I was looking forward to seeing her again.’

‘We need to get a picture of her as a personality, likes and dislikes, that kind of thing.’

‘There was the music, of course,’ Taki said. ‘She was passionate about that. Serious music. She didn’t have time for modern pop.’

‘When you say passionate...?’

‘I mean it. She’d travel to concerts in other cities. Her bedroom was full of posters of famous musicians, just like some girls go crazy over rock stars. She had a really top-class sound system and hundreds of CDs. Music was her main thing when we were going through school.’

‘Did she play an instrument?’

‘I never heard that she did. Her mother was a professional violinist and maybe that put Mari off, thinking she could never live up to that standard. She could read music, I know that. She’d buy the score and follow it.’

‘She studied maths, her father told me.’

‘Sure, in Yokohama University. There’s some kind of link between music and maths, isn’t there?’

‘Do you know if she had boyfriends?’

‘I expect so. I haven’t seen her for some time.’

‘At school, I mean.’

‘We all went out with boys. Mari was no exception.’

‘Was Mikio a particular friend?’

‘Of Mari’s?’ She blushed a little. ‘You mean Mikio at this university? They were seeing each other at one time. You’d better ask him.’

‘Are you and he...?’ Diamond asked, picking up on the blush.

‘Absolutely not.’ Her voice shook a little. ‘Just because we went through school together it doesn’t mean a thing. We happen to be studying in the same department in the same university, that’s all.’

The charged quality in her response alerted Diamond. ‘Is something the matter between you?’

‘This has nothing to do with Mari.’

‘But...?’

‘We don’t get on now.’

‘Is that why he wasn’t sitting outside when we arrived? To avoid you?’

‘It could be.’

‘Have you spoken to him at all about Mari’s death?’

‘We don’t speak.’

‘But after her father phoned and was so distressed, didn’t you ask Mikio if he’d heard from her?’

‘No.’ She was increasingly tight-lipped. And this interview had started so well.

‘It’s as serious as that, the rift between you? What’s behind it, Taki?’

She dipped her head.

Diamond, at a loss, glanced to his left for assistance.

Ingeborg said to Taki in little more than a whisper, ‘We need to know. It may seem personal to you, Taki, but we don’t ask questions without a good reason.’

Without looking up, she said, ‘My trouble with him has nothing to do with Mari.’

‘You don’t know,’ Ingeborg said. ‘It could be important. Did he try it on with you?’

After another long pause, Taki lifted her head and faced them, her eyes red-lidded and tearful. ‘At the end of the summer term, he got me drunk. He wasn’t dating me, or anything. We were with other students in a pub in the town and everyone was drinking. He kept filling my glass with cider. When I got up to go I was unsteady. I’ve never been drunk before. I couldn’t stand up properly. Everyone except me seemed to think it was funny. Mikio said he’d take me back to my lodgings. He had to hold me up. I remember him at the house helping me upstairs. After that, it’s a blank.’

‘Do you think he took advantage?’

‘I woke up at some time in the night feeling ill. I was alone in my bed and my head was hurting. I managed to get to the bathroom and threw up. Then I realised I was naked.’ She twisted her fingers in an agitated way. ‘I have no memory of undressing.’

‘He stripped you,’ Ingeborg said, making it more of a statement than a question. She was always alert to abuse of any sort.

‘What else can I think?’

‘Were you bruised? Sore? Do you think he raped you?’

‘If he did, it wasn’t obvious. I was too drunk to know. It’s so humiliating. I can’t believe I encouraged him, but even that is possible. You’d think I would have some memory of it, only I don’t.’

‘He could have added something to your drink.’

‘I’ve thought about that. I simply don’t know.’

‘It happens. If it was just drink, you’d probably have some recollection. Is there any talk of guys here using the date-rape drug?’

‘I haven’t heard it mentioned.’

‘As you say, you could be mistaken,’ Ingeborg said, appearing to sense that her outrage was adding to Taki’s distress. ‘Maybe you undressed yourself. Where were your clothes?’

‘On a chair.’

‘That doesn’t sound like a man intent on rape.’

Taki made a small movement with her shoulders that suggested she’d like to be persuaded, but wasn’t. ‘I didn’t see him again until the new term started and then I was too embarrassed to speak to him. In fact, we haven’t spoken since. What makes it worse is that some of the others who were with us in the pub still treat it as a joke.’

‘How does he react when they tease you?’

‘He doesn’t say anything.’

‘Does he have a reputation for sleeping around?’

‘No. I’ve heard nothing like that.’

Diamond joined in again. ‘Back in Japan, before you came here, what did the girls think of him?’

‘Nothing special. He was just another guy.’

‘Did you ever go out with him?’

‘I don’t think he was interested in me.’

‘But you said he was interested in Mari.’

‘I said they dated a few times. I doubt if it ever got serious.’

‘When she spoke to you on the phone about coming to Exeter, did she speak about seeing Mikio as well?’

She gave a nod. ‘It was kind of awkward. She asked if I saw him and I said yes because I do in lectures and she said it would be good for the three of us to meet and would I like to tell him she was coming. I didn’t want to tell her what happened with Mikio, so I said a better idea was to wait until she arrived and maybe we could fix something then.’

‘What did she say to that?’

‘She misunderstood me. I must have sounded really cool about her plan, because she jumped to the idea I was dating him and didn’t want her to come between us. I insisted that wasn’t the case, but I don’t know if she believed me.’

‘So how did you leave the arrangement?’

‘Like I said, we’d keep it loose. She was going to let me know by text when she was coming.’

‘Is it possible she called Mikio herself?’

‘I don’t know.’ Taki frowned. Then her eyes became huge behind the glasses as if an appalling scenario was surfacing in her brain. ‘I guess it’s possible.’

‘Did she have his mobile number?’

‘We all had contact numbers.’

‘We’ll ask him,’ Diamond said. ‘If you didn’t tell him Mari was coming, how else would he have known?’

She still looked deeply troubled. ‘What I said to you just now — about what happened to me last term — doesn’t have to go any further, does it? I’m not accusing him.’

Ingeborg said, ‘That’s not up for investigation and even if it was, proving anything happened would be impossible so long after.’

‘You won’t mention it when you interview him?’

Diamond had let the exchange between the two women run on for long enough. Sympathy could only go so far. ‘Mari was murdered. Nothing is off limits.’

Ingeborg softened the statement by adding, ‘If it comes up, we’ll be as discreet as possible.’

After Taki had left the room, Diamond said, ‘What did I tell you about the quiet ones?’

‘How do we know she’s the quiet one?’ Ingeborg said.

‘We’ll get his story presently. Did you believe her?’

‘Why shouldn’t I?’

‘She was quick to tell us she doesn’t drive and doesn’t speak to the guy. We came here to find out if they combined to murder Mari. Everything this one said absolved her from any part in a possible crime. She told us in effect that if Mikio killed Mari and drove her to Bath, he acted alone.’

Ingeborg’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you saying she made all this up?’

‘I’m saying she’s well and truly stitched up her old school buddy Mikio. Could be true, though. If he’s a date rape specialist it’s not impossible he drugged Mari and things didn’t go to plan. Some of these drugs like ketamine are potentially lethal. He could have given her too much and had a body to dispose of.’

‘Manslaughter. I hadn’t thought of that.’

‘The question is, had Taki?’

The department secretary arrived with tea and biscuits. Switching quickly to his amiable self, Diamond told her he could get used to the academic life. Nobody ever brought tea and biscuits to his office in CID.

‘Perhaps you don’t treat them right,’ the secretary said with a smile.

‘I’m like a favourite uncle to them all,’ he said, ‘but it makes no difference.’

‘Try getting tough, then.’

‘Now there’s an idea.’

Ingeborg was open-mouthed.

‘Mr. Nambu is here now,’ the secretary said.

‘We’ll see him.’

By student standards, Mikio Nambu was improbably well-groomed, in a navy polo shirt and white jeans. He looked as if he couldn’t kill a fly, but so did many of the notorious rapists and killers in criminal history, Diamond reflected. As an investigator, you had to accept that wrongdoers aren’t necessarily uglier or larger or less presentable than the rest of humanity. Juries were always disarmed by the ordinariness of the people put up before them.

‘Sit down, Mr. Nambu. Sorry to take you from your studies. This shouldn’t be long. We’ll call you Mikio if you don’t mind. Is that the way you say it?’

‘Mickey will do.’

‘We won’t get too chummy.’ He introduced himself and Ingeborg by rank and surname. ‘Do you know why we’re here?’

‘It’s about Mari Hitomi.’ His English was at least the equal of Taki’s.

‘A friend from Yokohama, is that right?’

‘She was, yes. I saw the TV news. It’s difficult to believe.’

‘Always is for the nearest and dearest. Would you call yourself one of Mari’s nearest and dearest?’

He shifted in the chair. ‘I don’t know about that.’

‘I’m trying to get a sense of your relationship. You must have dated her. Did you ever sleep with her?’

‘We were schoolkids.’

‘Is that a no?’

‘A definite no.’ He leaned back in the chair and said, ‘I hope you’re not trying to connect me with her murder.’

‘You’re a witness — or I think you are. She arrived in London and stayed for a short time with her father, who thought she was coming directly here to catch up with old friends from Yokohama — you and Taki Kihara. Did you hear from her?’

He paused. ‘There was a text to say she was coming and would get in touch when she knew the date.’

‘Is it still on your phone, this text?’

‘Deleted. I don’t keep everything.’

‘When did you receive it?’

‘At least two months ago, possibly longer.’ He was hesitating before each response, as if expecting a trap.

‘And I suppose there’s no way of telling if it was sent from London or Bath?’

‘It’s a mobile phone.’

‘Right. So did you see her after the text arrived?’

‘She didn’t get here.’

‘Let’s not take anything for granted, Mikio. You don’t know if she got here. You’re telling me you didn’t see her here, is that more accurate?’

‘I suppose. I thought she was killed in Bath.’

‘Her body was found there. It isn’t certain she was killed there, unless you know something we don’t.’

He blinked rapidly. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Do you drive?’

‘Yes.’

‘Got a car, have you?’

‘A Nissan Micra.’

Diamond exchanged a glance with Ingeborg. ‘It crossed my mind that you could have arranged to meet her in Bath, in which case you could tell us what she was doing there.’

Mikio shook his head. ‘I’ve never been to Bath.’

‘Or some place nearby?’

The words came rapidly now. ‘I didn’t see her. I didn’t speak to her on the phone. I received one text and that’s all.’

‘She could have come to Exeter as she promised,’ Diamond said.

‘If she did, I didn’t see her.’

‘Okay, don’t panic, Mikio. Where do you keep your car?’

If anything was likely to panic him, it was more interest in his car. He swallowed hard. ‘On the street outside my lodgings.’

‘Is it there now?’

‘Now? It’s here on the campus.’

‘So would you show it to us?’

They didn’t have far to go. The physics department had its own parking area behind one of the labs. Mikio’s Nissan Micra, a small, blue hatchback, stood only a few spaces from where Ingeborg had parked.

‘I haven’t washed it lately,’ he said.

‘It’s all right,’ Diamond told him. ‘We’re not thinking of buying it.’

They walked around the mud-spattered car. The back seat was covered with textbooks and file covers.

‘There isn’t much room for books where I live,’ Mikio said.

‘Open up, please.’

A sharp odour was apparent as soon as he unlocked the front door.

‘What’s that — disinfectant?’

‘There was a smell I was trying to get rid of. Maybe I should have used something else.’

‘What sort of smell?’

‘Vomit.’

‘Here in the front?’

‘That’s where it was.’

An insight into student life. Diamond glanced around the interior, which hadn’t been cleaned for a considerable time. Forensics would have a field day here if they were ever asked to check it. ‘Is the back open?’

Mikio took them around to the rear door. More books, up to a hundred probably, filled the boot space. Diamond sniffed and got the smell of books. Nothing else. This end of the car hadn’t been disinfected.

‘You can close it. We’re done.’

Back in the office, Diamond resumed in a disarming way. ‘Tell us what Mari was like when you were going out with her in Yokohama.’

Mikio frowned, still wary of being trapped. ‘I already told you we were just schoolkids. Nothing happened.’

‘You’re on about sex, are you?’ Diamond said. ‘I’m interested more in her personality, but if you want to tell us what you got up to — or didn’t — go ahead.’

A sharp breath. ‘No. It’s okay. There’s nothing to say. Personality. What do you want to know? She was popular, good at her studies, especially maths. She lived with her mother in an apartment in one of the best buildings in Yokohama. It was big, well furnished.’

‘You’ve seen inside, then?’

‘Only the hallway and living room.’

‘I believe her bedroom was quite a sight, filled with posters,’ Diamond said.

More nervous blinking. ‘I wouldn’t know about that.’

‘When you took her out, where did you go?’

‘The movies, a couple of times. She didn’t like clubs. They had the wrong sort of music. She was into serious stuff.’

‘So we are finding out. Did you go to any concerts with her?’

‘No, she liked to go alone. She spent all her pocket money travelling around to catch her favourite players. She had all the gigs on her iPad calendar and if I wanted a date I had to fit around them.’

‘So did you take her drinking?’

‘We were under age. Couldn’t afford it, anyway.’

‘Was she better off than you?’

‘Definitely. She got an allowance from her dad as well as her mother. But she spent most of it on the music.’

‘Tough for you, being second best,’ Diamond said. ‘How do you make any headway with a girl like that? What did she drink — Coke?’

Mikio reddened. Plainly he saw where this was heading. ‘Lemonade actually.’

‘Lemonade doesn’t have much of a kick.’

‘It was her choice.’

‘I expect she was drinking stronger stuff these days.’

He was quick to say, ‘I wouldn’t know. I didn’t see her.’

‘If she still drinks lemonade, there are ways of pepping it up, aren’t there?’ Diamond said. ‘You know all about getting girls in the mood. Ecstasy, GHB, or whatever the latest is.’

Mikio snapped, his voice rising. ‘Look, that’s out of order.’

‘I wasn’t talking about your schooldays. We’ve moved on. It’s a different world here. The girls drink as much as they want of whatever they want and sometimes things get added as well.’

Pushed to the limit, Mikio launched into a defence of his actions. ‘Taki’s been talking to you about me. If she told you I drugged her at the end of last term, it’s a lie. I didn’t add anything to her drink. I don’t do drugs myself and I wouldn’t dream of giving them to girls.’

‘What happened, then?’ Ingeborg said, fixing him with an uncompromising stare.

‘Do you really need to know?’

She didn’t answer and neither did Diamond.

‘Okay.’ Mikio gripped the chair arms. ‘There was this end of term booze-up in a pub. We thought it was a laugh when she was getting giggly and I filled her glass to encourage her, but I didn’t know she was legless. When it was obvious she couldn’t stand properly I felt bloody mean and ashamed. The least I could do was see her home safely, so I drove her back to her place. It wasn’t what you’re thinking. She threw up in my car. I got her to the house and helped her upstairs. If she told you I did anything else, I didn’t. She had vomit down her front. Would you fancy anyone in that state? I opened the door and guided her in and she sat on the edge of her bed and pulled off the smelly top and started unfixing her bra. I decided I’d done my duty and ought to leave fast, so I did. We haven’t spoken since.’

The words had come so rapidly and with such strong recollection Diamond found them convincing. None of it sounded rehearsed. ‘Did you put disinfectant in the car to take down the smell?’

Mikio needed a few seconds to get over his statement. ‘I’ve given it several goes. Air freshener isn’t enough.’

Diamond was ready to move on, whatever Ingeborg had decided. ‘What happened between you two isn’t my concern unless it touches on the death of Mari. Let’s get back to when you were dating her in Yokohama. How did it end? Did you have a row?’

The young man’s eyes rolled upwards. ‘How did it end? It didn’t really. There was never much to it. We stopped seeing each other, but we stayed friends, or she wouldn’t have asked to see me on this visit. I couldn’t compete with the musicians she idolised, and that’s all there is to it.’

‘Did she name any of them?’

‘I don’t remember any names. It was groups mostly, like any pop band, only classical. And you might say she was like any groupie, dead nuts about them.’

‘Is that what you really mean?’ Ingeborg asked, her feminism challenged yet again. ‘A groupie? That’s something more than idolising them. It means she was willing to sleep with them.’

‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have used the word,’ he said, on the retreat. ‘It’s unfair now she’s dead. I don’t know what was in her mind. The music thing was all a bit obsessive, but that’s a stage teenagers go through, isn’t it?’

‘Who were the groups she liked?’

‘They didn’t mean much to me.’

‘The Staccati?’

He shrugged. ‘Don’t know.’

‘Where did that come from?’ Diamond asked Ingeborg.

‘Tell you later,’ she said. ‘But I think we should speak to Taki again before we leave.’

They let Mikio return to his studies. He was out of that office as if a fuse had been lit.

‘What did you make of him?’ Diamond asked Ingeborg. ‘Is this a Japanese crime?’

‘If it is, we need to know a lot more about the motive,’ she said. ‘I was all ready to pin it on him after listening to Taki and how he treated her, but I thought he came across as honest. Jumpy, but truthful.’

Diamond murmured in agreement. ‘And the smell of disinfectant in the car definitely came from the floor in front of the passenger seat, which backs his story. When he first opened the door I thought maybe he’d had a corpse in there and tried to clean up, but you wouldn’t stick a corpse beside you in the front. The boot area was free of the smell.’

‘And he needn’t have shown us the car,’ Ingeborg said. ‘He could have said it was at the other end of the campus.’

Diamond surprised Ingeborg by suggesting she alone should do the follow-up interview with Taki. ‘She’ll respond better to you. In kindness you should tell her Mikio’s version of what happened the night she got drunk. If she’s alone with you and more relaxed she may recall something of real importance.’

On the drive back to Bath, he said, ‘Well?’

‘Well what, guv?’

‘Well, you’re looking pleased with yourself. How did it go?’

‘It was rather sweet. She wept a few tears, but they were tears of relief. She’s given herself a hard time these last few months imagining what happened. I think they’ll be back on speaking terms soon.’

‘And did you get any more from her?’

Ingeborg smiled. ‘I did. I asked about the musicians Mari was keen on. We’d talked earlier about the posters in her room, but we didn’t get down to names.’

‘We asked Mikio and he couldn’t remember any.’

‘Taki did. She said there was one string quartet that stood out and it was called the Staccati.’

‘The name you brought up earlier?’

‘Yes — because they’re based in Bath.’

‘Really?’ He turned to look at her, eyes gleaming. ‘How do you know about that?’

She played casual. ‘Who’s been doing the rounds of all the music colleges? I heard the name and remembered it and what’s more I’ve met one of the players.’